﻿#region Copyright (c) 2013-04, Olaf Kober <amarok.projects@gmail.com>
//================================================================================
//	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
//	of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
//	in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
//	to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
//	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
//	furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
//
//	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
//	all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
//	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
//	IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
//	FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
//	AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
//	LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
//	OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
//	THE SOFTWARE.
//================================================================================
#endregion

using System;


namespace Amarok.Agents
{
	/// <summary>
	/// This interface represents a publisher, which is an object that is capable to send out (publish) messages 
	/// to interested consumers (subscribers). In general a publisher serves two sides. First, the publishing side, 
	/// second the side that manages consumer subscriptions. This interface represents only the publishing side.
	/// </summary>
	public interface IPublisher
	{
		/// <summary>
		/// Publishes the supplied message and forwards it to interested consumers.
		/// 
		/// The method stores the supplied message in the dispatcher's input message queues of interested consumers and 
		/// returns immediately, meaning it only schedules the message for further processing, but the actual processing 
		/// is done later in other threads.
		/// 
		/// If there is no interested consumer at the time of publishing, then the message will be dropped silently.
		/// 
		/// Messages that are published after completing the publisher will be dropped silently.
		/// </summary>
		/// 
		/// <param name="message">
		/// The message that should be published.</param>
		/// 
		/// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">
		/// A null reference was passed to a method that did not accept it as a valid argument.</exception>
		void Publish(Message message);

	}
}
